More on Science Media Centre spin on the Catalyst program-this time from the UK branch

Powerwatch in the UK has just posted an excellent piece covering the recent Catalyst program by Maryanne Demasi. It seems the Science Media Centre in the UK is spinning as well. To briefly quote from Powerwatch:

Dr David Robert Grimes is a young physicist and cancer researcher at Oxford University. In 2014 he jointly won the John Maddox Prize present by the Sense about Science Charity. They, along with the Science Media Centre, claim to present scientific truths to the public. In reality they always seem to support the ‘Establishment view’ and do their utmost to prevent any safety questions being raised about man-made chemicals, radiation, EMFs, vaccines, etc. The Science Media Centre even specialises in ‘lock-in journalist briefings’ where organisations can Press Release their work to a hand-picked list of journalists along with a panel of hand-picked supportive scientists to answer questions. Experts with differing views wanting to ask legitimate challenging questions are completely excluded from these events. The briefings are usually timed so that they finish late morning and there is no time for the journalists to make other investigations before filing their stories for the mid-day news. This is an extreme form of professional spin that distorts rather than helps humanity understand scientific and technological developments. Science Media Centres now exist in various countries. See Sourcewatch for some more background information about the SMC network.